“I didn’t have time to put together much else, but the last slide is for questions, which I think we all have a lot of after the past five days,” I say, and Maisie’s lips part in an O.
“It was five days?” she questions, her phone still on the charger.
“Best way to spend a week, honestly,” Lain says.
“Well. Where do we even start? There’s so much we don’t know about one another and what are pack expectations? How soon do we want to bond? What’s everyone’s position on children? Do we need a sleep schedule? Is there a chore chart? Who usually feeds Fergus? Is there a specific day of the week we want to set aside as a pack day and other days scheduled so everyone gets equal attention?”
Maisie blinks at me after she tosses all those questions at me. Callum and Lain are also unhelpfully quiet as they turn to me, too. I rub the back of my neck and list out her questions in my head so I can give her every answer she needs.
Would it be too much to tell her that I’d always envisioned myself with children but never considered it with anyone else before? That the thought of getting her pregnant actually excites me? No, that’s too much for the moment. Let’s start small.
“As for bonding, I’m pretty sure we would all bond you right here and now, so the bonding pace is in your court. We would like children, but we understand we’re a few years older than you and that you might not be ready for this anytime soon. If you think a schedule for all of those things would ease your concerns, it’s definitely something we can do. And we do not have a chore chart, since we are all pretty clean. Lain takes care of Fergus,” I speak quickly, hoping I answered all her questions but not knowing if they were sufficient.
Maisie takes in all my words, processing them in her pretty head before speaking.
“I think I don’t want to wait on the bonding part. I hadn’t really considered children to be honest, so I’d like time to think about that. Would that be a deal breaker?” she asks, biting on her nail, looking at me for the answers.
“No, you’re our scent match and it’s your body and your life. You can take as much time as you need to think about it, and we’ll respect your decision,” I say, which has Lain and Callum both nodding in agreement. I think Callum was on the fence about kids along with Lain. Out of the three of us, I was probably the most enthusiastic about the idea of becoming a father, but I could also see myself without children.
Either way we would be a happy pack.
“I’ll work on a schedule of things next week. We’ll have to get my things from Chicago, including my digital calendar so everyone always knows what’s going on, who’s working, all of that good stuff,” she says excitedly. “Should I keep my plane ticket for the end of the month to go get my things?”
“You won’t be traveling there alone,” I say, maybe too quickly.
I expect some pushback, but don’t get it. Maisie just gives me a small smile of agreement.
“We’ll all look at our work schedules and one of us will come with you to collect your things.”
Maisie yawns, and I realize that all of this is enough for now. All the big stuff is out of the way. The rest can wait.
Lain’s phone keeps going off and he curses. “Fucking Rory. I’ve got a bunch of pissed off tourists. I need to make things right. I’ll be back later tonight, okay?” Lain tells Maisie, before giving her a kiss.
“I need to relieve Ginny. She’s been working nearly a week straight. Can you add me to your calendar for Tuesday?” Callum asks her and she nods. Callum is tentative for a moment, but still leans forward and gives her a quick kiss.
Maisie stretches my shirt that’s huge on her, tugging it over her knees and looking up at me. “Do you need to go too?”
“Nope. Come on, let’s go take a nap,” I say, holding out my arms.
“Oh, thank goodness,” she replies, quickly getting off the couch and wrapping her arms around my neck.
“My room or the nest? We’ll have to order all the furniture you need for both rooms.”
“Your room. I haven’t seen it, you know?” she says and I’m not sure how I missed that. We did always end up in Lain’s room when we were at the house. Mostly because it was downstairs, and we were impatient. Finding out she was our scent match made all of that make perfect sense.
She insists on walking up the stairs and I let her, following her up to my bedroom. She looks around at my different things before climbing into my bed. The second I’m next to her, I’m pulling her against my body and holding her tight.
“This still doesn’t feel real,” she whispers against my chest. “Like I feel like this is all some sort of dream and it’s going to be pulled away from me.”
“We’re real. It’s all real. We’re going to figure this all out. Whatever you need, Maisie, I mean it. You come to me and tell me, always.”
Her swallow is audible, and she licks her lips. “I think you should bond with me right now.”
“What?” I question maybe a little too loud and I’m automatically leaning on my elbow so I can look at her face.
“You said you’d bond with me right now and you’re my scent match and it’s inevitable, right? I-I well, wow. I didn’t think this would be so hard to say.”
“What, Maise?” I ask, cupping the side of her face.
